The Indian hockey team began its  Women's Asian Champions Trophy 2021 campaign with a thumping 13-0 win over Thailand at the Donghae City Sunrise Stadium in South Korea on Sunday.

Gurjit Kaur was the star of the show with five goals. Lilima Minz (two), Jyoti (two), Monika, Vandana Katariya, Rajwinder Kaur and Sonika were India's other scorers.

The win marked a solid start to Janneke Schopman's tenure as India head coach. The Dutchman, who deputised for former boss Sjoerd Marijne, took over the reins after Marijne left to post the Tokyo games.

Led by goalkeeper Savita Punia in the absence of captain Rani Rampal, who guided the Indian women to a fourth-place finish at Tokyo 2020, India took control of the match against debutants Thailand from the first whistle.

Read also: Hockey India names 18-member Indian Hockey Team for Donghae Women's Asian Champions Trophy 2021

Gurjit Kaur's opening

Gurjit Kaur opened the scoring after converting a penalty corner two minutes in. And Vandana Katariya made it 2-0 seconds later. Three back-to-back goals by Lilima Minz, Gurjit and Jyoti saw India take a commanding 5-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.

India scored four more in the second quarter, with Rajwinder Kaur. Lilima scored one each to add to Gurjit's two from the period.

After half-time, the Thai defence put up a much stronger front but couldn't stop India from adding to the scoreline. Jyoti and Sonika scored in the third quarter while Monika got on the scoresheet in the fourth before Gurjit. She had started the rout, wrapped up the thumping with the final goal of the match.

India, the highest-ranked team in the tournament, were scheduled to play Malaysia on Monday. But the match has been called off after Malaysian player Nurul Faezah Shafiqah Khalim tested positive for COVID-19.

India will play hosts South Korea on Wednesday.

PUBG mobile game called Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) sets an opportunity for Indian gamers to participate in the Asian Games 2022. Gaming company Krafton confirmed on Wednesday.

Initially, the Asian Games version of PUBG was announced as a medal event at the next year's continental showpiece. But as PUBG is banned in India, Indian gamers were not sure whether they would get an opportunity.

Also read: Indian Athletes Qualified For 2020 Olympics In Tokyo: In Detail

"It's good to finally know that we can take part at the Asian Games, where we will also be representing India and not just our gaming organisation," India's veteran PUBG and BGMI gamer Abhijeet Andhare, known as Ghatak, told Olympics.com.

Including BGMI, there are seven other games - FIFA, Arena of Valor (Asian Games version), Dota 2, League of Legends, Dream Three Kingdoms 2, HearthStone and Street Fighter V - that are part of the esports programme, which makes its debut at the 2022 Asian Games.

Each title will have a gold, silver and bronze medal on offer.

Another two games - Robot Masters and VR Sports - will be played as demonstration events at the 2022 Asian Games.

Esports was a demonstration event at the 2018 Asian Games when Indian gamer Tirth Mehta won a bronze medal in Hearthstone.

One another golden champ Indian archer is Abhishek Verma. He has set his goal to finish on the podium across all three events at the continental Games next year. At the 2022 Asian Games, depending on his capability he's hoping to record his best result.

The 32-year-old is determined to make his position felt in every competition -- international and national -- and gain confidence ahead of the marquee event.

Also read: Indian Medal Winners At the Archery World Cup

The Arjuna awardee had recently clinched a silver medal along with Jyothi Surekha Vennam in the mixed team event at the 2021 World Championships. But he was knocked out in the quarterfinals of the men's individual event. Because he lost the eventual silver medallist Braden Gellenthien of the US.

"It was a good performance for me after Covid-19. I'm being able to achieve the targets that I have given myself and we (as a team) will look to carry on the momentum to the upcoming tournaments so that our confidence can be maintained at the 2022 Asian Games," Verma said.

"The primary aim, for me, is the Asian Games. I believe that I can win a medal across all three events. There are times when we shoot 150 out of 150 and still lose and sometimes we win with 140-odd points. It all depends on the weather conditions and pressure around us," he added.